The transfer window now has just ten days to run, and manager Paul Simpson confirmed that he’ll be pulling out all the stops in an attempt to add more to his squad.
“We’ve still got a little bit of time, we’ll get back to work on that and, who knows, we might even have somebody in for next weekend,” he said. “We just have to wait and see.
“We’re trying to do stuff, we’re trying to bring players in. I think the team is crying out for some pace to get in behind, and I think we need another target man, another striker.
“Finding them is the difficult bit. That’s the problem we’ve got. We’ll keep working, we’ll keep doing what we have to do, and hopefully we’ll find the right people to come and help us.
“We’ve got the staff who can do what needs to be done to make that happen. It’s actually getting the right players, it’s having the funds to do it, it’s having the clubs who are prepared to let them come.
“There are all sorts of things that go into the mix. We are all trying to do it, myself, Gav, Greg, the directors are backing us to do it, we just have to try and find the right ones and get the right funds for it.”
“Like I say, my ideal wish list is a player with pace and a target man,” he added. “But that’s not easy, it’s something we’ve been looking at since the end of last season when we knew we were going to be in League One.
“We’re going to keep doing it, but we also know that the solutions have to come from us, because we will not get one player who ticks all the boxes. We just don’t have millions of pounds.
“We have to find somebody who will be the catalyst for everybody else to raise their game, that’s what we have to find and that’s what we’re trying to do.
“I’ve said this before, I don’t believe in just bringing bodies in just to accumulate a group of players, we have to get players who are going to make us better.
“We’ve got to have a right good push. We’ve got to be seen to be trying to make improvements. I think the supporters want that. We’ve gone up, we deserved to go up, now we have to do everything we possibly can to stay up.”
And it goes without saying that the addition of one or two more will make team selection even trickier.
“We’ve got players who can do it,” he insisted. “We just need a little bit of assistance, maybe even a fresh face, maybe somebody the fans can go and cling to as well.
“I think we’ve got players who give us good variations. Luke Plange was lively again when he came on, Sean Maguire was lively, we all saw what Jordan Gibson brings to it on Tuesday night. Dan Butterworth gives us something, and we’ve got Joe Garner in there.
“But we want a little bit more help something that maybe is a bit different. It’ll probably leave us in a position where some players are going to be left out, but if that’s what’s going to make us better we’ve got to look to try and do that.
“I don’t want to stand still as a football club. I don’t want to sit and be satisfied that we’re now in League One and let’s have a little rest. I want to push on, I want to make sure that we’re like Exeter City, Oxford United, Fleetwood Town, where we are regarded as League One sides.
“If we can’t get any help we’ll make sure we keep working with what we’ve got and make sure they come to the party. But in the ideal world it would be good if we can get some more in to come and help us with that.
“You don’t need to be a genius to see that if you can’t take your chances, you’re always under pressure, because any mistake you’re more often going to get punished.
“We know that we need to strengthen our squad, we are really trying to strengthen the squad. We’ll have another push to try and do it this week, we’re going to keep working at it and hopefully we can get people in that can come and help the group.”
And he had already confirmed earlier in the week that there is unlikely to be any help in the current window from any potential investment or takeover activity.
“I don’t know where that’s at, but I have met the Americans that have been talked about,” he confirmed. “I’ve spoken to them. I don’t know – there’s lots and lots of things that need to happen before we can start getting really excited about it.
“Honestly I don’t know what stage they’re at. That’s not me ducking it. I just think it’s a very exciting situation to be in.
“I think I’ve been told the club have been in this position many times before. I just hope something happens that the current group of directors feel is appropriate for the club, and whoever the new people are going to be, they come in and they’re going to take the club forward.
“Tat’s all I hope. And hopefully that involves me as well. Like I say, I had a conversation with them over this week. But literally a really casual conversation. They haven’t come and told me they’re going to do this and going to do that. We’ve just had a meet and greet and that literally was it.”